What do you shoot? Among Fieldsports Channel viewers, deerstalking is the big one with 38% of you out after deer, followed by 31% of you foxshooters, 15% of you are target shooters, 11% of you shoot wild boar and 5% hunt other overseas big game.

There is plenty of overlap between the disciplines here. All target shooters, wild boar and other big game hunters hunt other animals. 16% of the deerstalkers stalk deer and nothing else. 12% of the foxshooters shoot foxes and nothing else.

Now, which calibre do you shoot and is it true that the 6.5 Creedmoor is taking over the world. No it is not. More than a quarter – 26% of you – shoot .243, 18% of you shoot .308, 11% shoot .223, and the Creedmoor cult comes 8th equal along side those gnarly .270 owners.

Hunting rifle market share UK
Top three: .308, .243 and .223

Survey results

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Now the rifles themselves. We will come to the overall winners at the end of this item. First up, we asked you to rate them for what you like about them. One manufacturer really cleans up here. The winner for reliability, looks, accuracy and customer service: it’s Danish gunmaker Schultz & Larson. The winner. For value for money is Savage. And the manufacturer that makes the best fitting rifles is Bergara.

Well-loved: Schultz & Larsen

Which is the most popular rifle maker? In third place is Blaser, second place goes to Sako and the winner, with nearly 20% of the market, is Tikka.

Most popular manufacturer: Tikka, followed by Sako and Blaser

And which is the most popular rifle? Let’s do a top 6, because these rifles dominate the market. Sixth place goes to the Browning X-Bolt. In fifth place, it’s the Remington 700. The fourth most popular rifle among Fieldsports Channel viewers is the Howa 1500. Just ahead in third place is the Sako 85, also sited the best-looking of these top rifles. The second most popular rifle is, from Germany, the Blaser R8, also voted the most accurate. And the most popular rifle among our viewers, and the most reliable and the best value for money, is, from Finland, the Tikka T3.

Super, solid rifles that get the job done: Tikka T3 in first place

Is this what the shops are recommending? Here’s Robbie Shedden from Cluny Country Guns giving us his top choices for centrefire rifles for under £1,500.

The research comes from 700 responses to a survey we sent to our viewers in March 2020. We reviewed kit across the world of shooting sports and received a total of 3,500 responses. For more information about the research, please contact James Westbrook.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

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